George Orwell

Background Work
You will begin your exploration of the text by identifying a point of inquiry into the culture or
history of something we have read in order to better understand the context of either the
production or reception of the text at a specific point in time. You will find relevant sources and
reflect on them, proposing an argument about some cultural or historical context of the work.
I encourage you to draw on your own personal or academic interests to help frame your
research question and subsequent research. You might begin by considering allusions to other
texts (stories, poems, or songs, etc.); or how certain philosophies have shaped the text; or by
considering cultural perspectives on identity, anarchy, freedom, government, etc.; or by
considering historical accounts of specific fascist governments or specific acts of terrorism. How
have any one of these “lenses” influenced the writing of the text or some given audience’s
reading of it?
The point of this research is not to find someone else’s interpretation or close reading of the
text; the point is to find contextual information that will help you explore and formulate your own
approach.
Find at least five (5) cultural and/or historical sources that relate to your line of inquiry.
Wikipedia, Sparknotes, etc. are not acceptable sources for this inquiry, though they may refer to
acceptable sources. We will discuss and determine what is and is not an acceptable source as
a class.
At least one source should be about the text itself; others should be sources that explore some
cultural or historical context of this book. You might consider what was going on around the time
that this text was written or published. What were people thinking about in the society where
1984 was written? What political, social, religious, etc. debates were going on, or what cultural
values are alluded to in this text? In other words, your research should help you understand the
world in which this text was produced or received into.
The Assignment

Write a paper (1500-1800 words) that analyzes the cultural/historical context for your selection.
In your paper, you must make an argument as to how the cultural/historical context can better
help the reader understand the text, or how it changes over time/for different audiences, etc.
Basically, you’ll take your interpretation, which is informed by your new understanding of the
cultural and historical context of the text, and create a research paper that argues for the validity
of your interpretation. In this paper, you are making a claim about 1984. Like all claims, you
must support it with evidence that, for this assignment, must be both textual and secondary. You
must include at least three (3) secondary sources. This paper must be in MLA format.